UrbanClap, Doormint, other home services players scout for trained workers

In a sector where quality and standardisation of services is key, trained professionals to represent a brand in the unorganised space are difficult to find.Payal Ganguly&Nirupama V | ET Bureau | September 03, 2015, 12:42 IST

The perks of working for an aggregator and the minimum wage guarantee was the incentive for Mangesh Bhosale to quit his job as a plumber in a Mumbai based company and join Doormint.

He has a diploma from National Council for Vocational Training, but professionals like Bhosale are tough to find for players in India’s on-demand home services space.

Tie-up with skill training institutes and National Skill Development Council (NSDC) solves only a part of the problem for sourcing trained professionals for companies such as Housejoy, Zimmber and Mr. Right while others like Urban-Clap and Doormint believe in a model for recruitment through feet-on-ground.

In a sector where quality and standardisation of services is key, certified professionals who are trained to represent a brand in the unorganised space are difficult to find.

“You might have an easy-to-use app and ability to send a reply in 5 minutes, but if the plumber does not turn up, is rude, or does not do his job well, then nothing else matters,” says Varun Khaitan, founder of UrbanClap, which raised around Rs 61 crore from Accel Partners and SAIF.

On-boarding technically sound professionals is done in conjunction with skill training partners while soft skill training is usually carried out in-house.

“We partner with Housejoy and similar players in two aspects — one is to pool and mobilise professionals trained by us and secondly, to assess and certify existing professionals on the Housejoy platform as per the National Skill Qualification Framework,” says Ram Kollavenu, head of operations at a skill training centre in Bengaluru.

Delhi-based Mr. Right works with NSDC’s database to find a pool of trained individuals, which contributes to only 15% professionals on their portal. “We have created a database of 5.5 million skilled workers in the unorganised sector which can be accessed through the Employer’s Portal. From babajobs to Mr. Right, around 30 employers currently access our portal,” says Sampada Atri, head of innovation and engagement at NSDC.

“The time required for getting a certification is high as it is a six month course and the professional cannot afford to forego earnings for this period,” says Abhinav Agarwal, cofounder and CEO at Doormint, which recently raised $3 million led by Helion Ventures and Kalaari Capital.

The brand perception created by services professionals is a major determinant for customer loyalty. “If users don't love the service and customer retention rates are not great, your unit economics will suffer and you'll never be able to build a huge business,” said Umang Dua, co-founder of Handy, a three year old startup that operates in the US, Canada and England, in a previous interaction with ET.

“While individual service providers are okay with the idea of wearing uniform for calls, when we on-board small businesses, they are not comfortable with the idea. It will change when we gain scale,” says Prashant Chaudhary, co-founder at Mr. Right.

Mumbai-based Zimmber calls its home service-providers ‘champs’. Much like a corporate induction, these workers go through a 5-day training where their technical skills are brushed up.

For Mangesh Bhosale, who cheerfully greets callers in impeccable English, the uniform imparts a sense of pride. “We are required to carry our ID card and wear the T-shirt given by Doormint and carry their tool-bag. If we do not wear the uniform, we are fined,” says Bhosale.

Home Services startups Handy and Homejoy in the US, which have been at the receiving end for enforcing stringent standardisation on employees, are unlikely to set the precedent for the Indian scenario. However, finding the right professionals which can differentiate the brand will be a challenge for the startups hungry to scale.